Invincible (5 page)

Jack laughs once more, then once realizing my expression, stops. "Okay, man,
I’m sorry, but it's the truth."

"It's okay," I say, shrugging my shoulders. "I tried to ask her earlier about that, her and Rick, but she didn't tell me much about it."

Jack looks at me as he eats off his tray, a curious expression crossing his face. 

"What did she say?"

"I don’t really know, exactly. Something about things changing," I tell him.

"Oh," he says, his face lighting up with surprise. "She's right about that."

"You know something?! Tell me!"

“Relax, okay?” he says.  He then goes silent, taking a deep breath. "Believe it or not, Rick and I used to be...well, friends."

I almost choke on my food, unable to believe such a revelation. I mean, Jack and Rick? Friends?

"You were?" I ask.

"Sadly, yes," He says, nodding his head.

I really wanted to ask him more about his friendship with Rick, but now wasn’t the time for those kinds of questions, at least not for the o
nes that didn’t involve Taylor.

"What does this stuff have to do with Taylor?"

"I'm getting there," he says, putting up his hand to silence me. "You see, Rick was never the way he is now. He was more…nicer. Average, for lack of a better word. He sort of treated people with respect. Then he got into the football team. I guess after hanging out with those jerks and becoming the star player, he changed towards everyone. He stopped sitting at my table, started teasing me and when he was with Taylor, he started calling her names, even talking to other girls. He suddenly thought that he was

better than everyone. In his own words, it'll be superior. Eventually, she cut him loose, and I had to accept the fact that he wasn't the same person he was before, and let him go, too. Either
way, we were both pretty hurt."

Wow. That must have been really terrible. For both Taylor and Jack. They had to deal with that guy's crap, and he never even gave them the time of day. The worse part of it all was Taylor, being with a guy she probably loved, and then being treated like she was nothing but dirt. It actually made me feel kind of sad.

I look at Taylor again, seeing her now relieved face, and begin to wonder why would Rick do this to her, and how was she able to handle this so well?

Suddenly, my head begins to split into two, exploding with pain. I put my hand to my forehead and wince.

"Are you okay?" Jack asks.

I nod. "Yeah," I say.

Then the cafeteria got louder. Louder than it ever was before. Before I couldn't hear everyone's conversations, but now all I heard was conversation after conversation.

"What are you doing after school?" one person says.

"Hey, can you help me study tonight?" says another.

"Why did she leave you anyway?"

"Correction, I dumped her. And besides, she couldn't handle the awesomeness."

More noise continued to fill my head, cramming itself into every space it could possibly fit. I close my eyes to try and calm myself, hoping to block out the sound.

What was happening to me? What was this feeling occurring inside my head? Surely, not a headache, and if it was, it didn't feel like a normal one. This kind of pain seemed nearly impossible for anyone to bear. Even I was surprised to have endured it for this long.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Jack repeats.

I couldn't answer him. Every word he spoke felt like standing in front of a million church bells, his voice becoming more louder than the others. I put my other hand against my head, positioning them side-by-side, digging into my skull with my fingers. This shouldn't be happening. This isn’t normal.

I couldn't take it anymore. I couldn't handle all the pain and the noises growing inside my head. Everything was happening so fast, so quickly. And before I knew it, running out of any other options, I scream.

The noise stops.

I open my eyes and see Jack looking at me with worry, and everyone else in the cafeteria looking shockingly in our direction. I turn to Taylor, desperate for her reaction. I only catch one glimpse of her, and I couldn’t tell if she was happy, worried, or even scarred.

Then the pain starts again, the voices slowly seeping back into my head.

"Is that the new kid?"

"What’s wrong with that guy?"

"Is he retarded or something?"

I close my eyes, and tightly hold onto my head. Why won't this stop already? How much embarrassment will you make me take?

I open my eyes again and see Rick standing up from his seat.

"Dude, what's your problem?!" he shouts.

I turn to see Taylor again with the remaining strength I had, and find her facing me with the same confusing look. The volume increases, my head now beating its own pulse. I turn away instantly. The voices pick up volume, more than any volume humanly imaginable, giving the pain the same feeling along with it.

I've had enough. I jump out of my seat and run straight for the door.

"Troy, where are you going
?!" Jack yells in the distance.

As I ignore him, the sound of his voice bringing another pulse of pain too overwhelming for a response, I push open the door and enter the empty hallway.

I didn’t bother to look back into the cafeteria, trying my best not to turn around and see Taylor or Jack's faces again. The voices start to fade again, and the pain slowly follows along with it. I was okay.

With the show I just put on, there was no way I was going to walk back in there. The only way I could get out of this alive is to simply just get out of here. Leave. Walk right out of the door. Yeah, that sounds like a good idea to me.

As I walk to my locker, the possibilities of what happened in the cafeteria begins to run through my recently cleared head.

Idea one: I was crazy. Maybe that's why I can't remember anything. I'm so insane that someone probably shot me with a tranquilizer and I lost my memory. Actually, I’ve never thought about that one before. Maybe that one will go in my "What happened to my memories?" list.

Idea two: I was dreaming. It wouldn't be the first time I dreamt something weird. I mean, last night, I was surrounded by fire! Now that I’m thinking about it, I was starting to get confused. Was
this
a dream? I couldn't tell. This felt real, but it wasn’t like the dream hadn’t felt real, either.

Ugh! My head starts to hurt again. Not like it was before, but still hurting nonetheless. I decide to scratch those ideas out of my head for now, thinking my thoughts were not too safe to think at the moment.

I check my locker to see if there is anything I need. Nothing really. I close the locker, trying to take deep breaths so I wouldn’t lose conciseness. Or my mind. 

"Are you okay, Mr. Connor?"

Oh, no. Here comes the pain…

But there wasn’t. No pain or any loudness. I was fine.

I turn my head and find Ms. Rockwell walking up to me.

"Um…yeah, Ms. Rockwell," I say. "I'm fine."

She stops an inch away from me. "Are you sure? You sure seem to be sweating a lot."

It wasn’t until I wipe my forehead against my hand that I realize I was soaking wet. I wipe my hand dry, and then once I finish scratching at my moist armpits, I begin to fan my shirt.

"Yeah," I repeat, nodding my head, "I'm fine."

Ms. Rockwell looks at me for a moment, her confused expression facing my panicked one, then smiles and nods her head. "All right," she says. And from there, she continues to walk through the hallway.

The sound of the bell startles me. Dang it! I thought I had more time. I grab onto my backpack and start to walk. The sound of kids filling the hallways enter my ears, and I move at a faster pace. But before I take another step, I hear a voice yelling my name.

"Troy!"

I turn around and find Taylor standing in the middle of the hallway, students navigating around her as they get to their next class. When she realizes she’s caught my attention, she starts walking in my direction, the obvious worried expression still on her face from where I’d left it.

I couldn't let her see me like this. Not when I was on the verge of having a psychotic breakdown. I quickly turn my head and started to run.

Everything was going okay. No one seemed to attack me when I pushed them out of the way, and I didn’t seem to neither hear, nor see Taylor approaching me. My journey out of the school would’ve been complete and gone unnoticed, invisible to others. But that was before Rick stepped in front of me, and stopped me dead in my tracks, terrified.

"How's it going, Newbie?" he says, pounding his fist into his other hand, like he did the previous day with Jack. "Pretty funny stuff you pulled back there."

"Rick, would you give it a rest already?"

As I hear Taylor defending me, a crowd of students begin to surround us. It wasn’t long before the pain and voices returned again, the feeling so intolerable it forces me to my knees, snapping my eyes shut and screaming in agony.

"Aww. How sweet," he says, amusingly. "But you don't have to bow down just yet. I haven’t even started."

Then I feel his foot slam me in the face. I fall backwards, and as I land on my backside, I begin to realize the sound and pain has stopped.

Taylor runs to my side, ignoring the taunting
Ohhh’s
and
Aww’s
and whistling from the crowd as she kneels down and looks at me.

"
Troy, are you okay?" she asks.

I can feel something dripping from my nose. I use the back of my hand to wipe it off, and when I saw what it was, my jaw tightens in anger. Red hot blood, with tiny specks of green, were covered in a small blob on the back of my hand. Probably glitter or candy left behind from the students.

As soon as I hear Rick and the others laughing, I move Taylor out of my way and begin to stand. Rick lets out
a grin as I step closer to him.

"Oh, you want more?" he asks.

I start to shake at the thought of punching him, a rush of adrenaline shooting through my veins. Suddenly, everything begins to move slowly. I see Rick, swinging his fist towards me. I could see the crowd of people, laughing and shouting. It was all being done in a slow motion. The kind that you see in the movies, but surprisingly, even slower than that. I was starting to get freaked out by this. Was I experiencing the effects of second-hand smoking? Did someone spike my lunch milk?

I notice Rick's fist gradually approaching my face, so before it could get any closer, I duck down. He then starts rising up his knee, hoping that somehow it would hit me, but I use both of my hands and push down on it, forcing his leg back to the ground. Then finally, before he could come up with any more clever ideas, I raise my leg in the air and force my foot into his stomach.

Within the blink of an eye, everything goes back to its normal speed. I see Rick flying in the air and disappearing through the crowd. Some of them are fast enough to move out of the way, but the others were not so lucky and fell on the ground. After a few seconds, I hear a soft thud. The crowd, now parted like the red sea, gasps in shock as we see Rick groaning on the ground…all the way at the end of the hall!

Everyone turns to look at me. I couldn't blame them. If I were in their position, I'd look at myself, too. How was I able to do that? I'm not even that muscular, and I just kicked a football player towards the end of a school hallway!